The present invention relates to harvesters, and, more particularly, to hay harvesting equipment of the type that is capable of producing a pair of windrows (double windrows) on top of one another, side-by-side, or merged into one large windrow so that subsequent, high capacity equipment such as big square balers and self-propelled forage harvesters have double the amount of windrowed material to ingest during each pass across a field.
Conventional double windrow attachments for either self-propelled or pull-type windrowers utilize an obliquely oriented cross-conveyor behind the header of the machine for receiving a stream of crop materials from the conditioning apparatus of the header. Rather than allowing the materials to fall to the ground directly behind the header, the cross-conveyor transports the materials to a remote outboard location. In a first pass, a deflector at the discharge end of the conveyor directs the materials down to the ground to form a first windrow. Then, in the next pass, the deflector is maintained in a raised position so that the discharging materials pass beneath the deflector and are projected further outboard than in the first pass, causing a second windrow to be laid down essentially along side of the first windrow.
The obliquely disposed cross-conveyor in conventional equipment is tilted down along its front edge so that the cross-conveyor intercepts the entire material stream in mid-flight as it issues from the conditioner. The front edge thus operates close to the ground, which presents ground clearance problems when the machine is being transported over rough terrain, over terraces or onto trailers.
The present invention overcomes the problems of the prior art through the provision of a cross-conveyor that can be raised and lowered as may be necessary or desirable to increase or decrease ground clearance. In a preferred form, the cross-conveyor is pivoted or hinged to the supporting frame of the machine in such a manner that the cross-conveyor swings up and down about a transverse axis along the rear edge of the conveyor between a lowered downwardly tilted position and a raised, generally horizontally disposed position. Preferably, the cross-conveyor utilizes a lift cylinder to effectuate its raising and lowering movement, and such lift cylinder is hydraulically integrated in a flow circuit with lift cylinders for the header in such a manner that both the header and cross-conveyor are raised or lowered at the same time.